Education has its academic, administrative, management and governance sectors. All the sectors must operate efficiently, effectively and fairly in order for the system to deliver on purpose.
Yesterday’s press conference by the students union of the UTG should have in fact been preceded by a press conference of the UTG staff association in order to inform the public what the grievances are. Since the lecturers exist for the students and the students exist for the lecturers, the staff association and the students union should have held a meeting in order to come up with a memorandum of understanding indicating the challenges that have emerged and build consensus on how to handle it before it goes out of proportion. This is what proper governance in an institution of higher learning requires.
An institution of higher learning that is preparing students for leadership and citizenship should have inbuilt crisis management and resolution mechanisms to resolve internal problems of both staff and students before they go out of proportion.
In the same vein, Foroyaa gathered that the teachers in the grant-in-aid schools have resumed work after the disbursement of the outstanding November 2024 salaries for Grant-aided/SSS Board Schools and the First Term School Improvement Grant (SIG) for Mission Schools. This follows a threat by the teachers union of a nationwide strike action if their dues were not paid. The speedy resolution of the problem could either be due to lack of consultation or negligence in the performance of duty until pressure was exerted for action to be taken.
In either case, proper governance of the school system has not been properly manifested by some authorities responsible for service delivery or the oversight of the delivery process.
Foroyaa will find out whether all the challenges at each level of the educational divide have been addressed.
